Faculty Bio

Dr. Priyanka Somanath serves as Assistant Professor in the School of Biotechnology. Dr. Priyanka Somanath obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, USA, where she worked on elucidating the molecular functions of pluripotency-specific proteins in embryonic stem cells and their relationship to cancer. Additionally, she utilized the genome editing strategy, CRISPR-Cas9, to determine the unique functions of core epigenetic proteins in gene regulation of human cells. She also served as lead Teaching Assistant in multiple undergraduate courses at UC Davis.

Dr. Somanath has research experience from several international universities including the University of California, Berkeley and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where she worked on three-dimensional cell culture systems and cell cycle control in human cancer cells. She also has past research experience working in the biotechnology industry at Genentech, Inc., USA.